Good Pyongyang, bad Pyongyang

Did you see where North Korea is again preparing to test-fire a long-range missile -- one that could reach Hawaii and perhaps the West Coast of the United States?
If you haven't been paying attention, you might wonder: What happened to all those conciliatory gestures and hopeful peace talks between North Korea and South Korea? What happened to various diplomats' heady declarations that peace was at hand?

The answer: North Korea happened. Pyongyang does its own, one-nation, good-cop/bad-cop routine to keep its adversaries off balance and keep trying to squeeze more concessions and more aid out of South Korea and the West, even after agreeing to less.

And frankly, we think a lot of this depends on the mood swings of the North Korea's mercurial "Dear Leader," Kim Jong-Il.

Even under the best of circumstances, diplomacy has its limits. When it comes to North Korea, however, a breakthrough agreement today isn't worth the paper it's written on tomorrow.